At first, one would think Iraqi and US teens would have little in common since their life experiences are so different. However  during GYV’s  Peace-building Program, there has been incredible connection, integration, and appreciation between the youth from the U.S. and from Iraq. Friendships have become so strong and people have bonded over open discussions of cultural differences.

A moment that brought us all together came from a speech GYV founder, J.E. Rash, gave the first day the youth arrived. He pointed out that there are certain universal human values that transcend cultures and continents. The young people from both countries added compassion, honesty, integrity, respect, courage, family, community, strength, open-mindedness, humility, and the ability to listen to a list of universal values.  Recognizing that we all aspire to and agree upon the same ideals created a foundation for open communication and respect that was perfect for living in cabins together, participating in our peace-building workshops, and engaging in all of the other fun activities around the Global Youth Village.

One 16-year-old Iraqi participant described her experience at GYV this way:

The Americans were so nice. I learned a lot of stuff here – to be responsible for myself, to care for myself and my friends in hard times, and it was a great experience for me to meet the Americans and talk with them. My thought about Americans changed when I came here and met them. The way I talked to them, we talked about a lot of stuff we have in common, and the workshops were great and fun. Yesterday we were all dancing.

Despite diverse cultural practices, variations in religion, and differences between our governments, recognizing the universal human values we all share transcends these separations and provides hope for a peaceful world community.

The Global Youth Village is a hands-on experience in global citizenship. I am confident that you will discover, as so many before you have, that with trust, cooperation and enthusiasm, you can cross barriers of ethnicity and race, gender and religion, and work together for a better world. Come join us for another exciting summer. We’re not only preparing for the future-we’re creating it!

Yours sincerely,

J.E. Rash
Founder and President

Other Posts:

Letter from the Founder

Folktale Night

Our talented participants engage in folktale night once every session.  Folktale night provides our participants a chance to express their creativity by dressing up as different characters and acting out a folktale for everyone.

Each tale teaches a valuable lesson to the participants such as forgiveness, compromise, understanding, that laughter really is the best medicine, even the smallest people can be the biggest help, humbleness and the value of teamwork. 

While learning these lessons, the participants are able to learn a lot about each other and their own artistic ability.  The students love folktale night and all the entertainment, laughter and sharing they are able to take part in.

It is spring time at the Global Youth Village, and we are already doing lots of work along the wooded trails and pathways getting ready to host young people and staff from many places around the globe.  So far, we have people coming from Kyrgzstan, Turkey, Egypt, Iraq, Indonesia,  and Nigeria.

So, what can you do on April 22 until you come here and learn more?  Amanda French, who taught Green Your World with us in 2009, shared some ideas:

Start your Earth Day by getting unplugged!  Often known as “wall warts” and “energy vampires,” power cables with transformers often consume watts of energy while plugged into outlets. Over the 365 days connected, the wasted energy adds up. What can you do?  Reduce your carbon footprint and environmental impact by disconnecting those cables or replacing them with “Energy Star” alternatives. You can even use a power strip with a master switch to completely disconnect those energy hogging circuits.  With over 180 million cell phone charging users in the U.S. alone, we can all make an impact one watt at a time by getting unplugged!

Here at the Global Youth Village , we try to instill the importance of this concepts in our participants as we provide the tools necessary for them to become community leaders. We show our participants the importance of giving back, while encouraging their peers to do the same. Our hope is by encourage a small group of youth, we will create a global domino effect amongst youth around the world.

 Become part of our “domino effect” and attend GYV this summer!   APPLY TODAY! E-mail Suhad Rasoul at gyv@legacyintl.org for more information.

•   Haitian-born music star Wyclef Jean  has a charitable organization www.yele.org.  Via twitter he recommends donating $5. You can text a $5 donation to 501501
• Donate to Unicef
• Help Habitat for Humanity respond  
• Donate or volunteer through Red Cross  

 Go to PBS to learn more from people working on the ground.

How does one person make a difference?  How do you take what you value in life (justice, integrity, fair play, compassion) and apply it?  How can you become a leader?  These are all questions pondered during a panel discussion with our two recipients of the 2009 Service to Humanity Award.  Watch this 6 minute video for some inspiration.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rordDg4P9qk

Collected from Iraqi, American, and other International Participants and Staff

1. New Dance moves
2. How to communicate – with and without language
3. The Iraqis know as much about American music as the Americans do
4. How to do Henna tattoos
5. How to write our names in Arabic
6. We all enjoy Peace building – yesterday one class was literally building
7. How to make some of the new sounds in Arabic
8. Jewelry making
9. How to dance the Chobi (Iraqi dance)
10. Telling time in Arabic
11. How to ask for someone’s number in several languages
12. Book cover making and decoupage
13. That everyone’s experience of conflict is different
14. Ping pong techniques
15. How to say “hello” and “thank you” in lots of different languages
16. The Iraqis speak Kurdish, Assyrian, and some European languages, in addition to Arabic
17. About Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King, Jr.
18. Yellah!  (Arabic for “Let’s Go!”)
19. The way we tell dates is different – the Iraqis say the day first, then the month, and Americans do the opposite
20. We all like the same music
21. There is no verb “to be” in Arabic
22. How to make collages
23. Improving our English
24. How to make tacos
25. What guacamole is
26. How to do paper mache
27. That Iraqi families tend to be larger, and sometimes extended families all share one large house
28. Iraqi weddings are HUGE!
29. That not all Iraqis are Muslim and not all Americans are Christian
30. That we all like to play soccer!